Two's Company, Three's a Crowd
by Awake-the-Dark
Summary: Girl meets boy and thinks that he's pretty damned special. Boy thinks she's pretty awesome herself. So far so good! But what happens when Ella discovers that Mark's brother Jay is really hard to stop thinking about? Like, really...


Being pressed up close and personal against a man not two minutes after she first laid eyes on him was fast work for Ella, despite the mean things some other girls had said about her in high school. From the startled look in his eyes it may have been a fairly new experience for him as well.

"I am _so_ sorry."

Ella breathed, looking down at the handle of the hold-all that had wrapped around her ankle and sent her on the way to a nasty introduction with the concrete arena floor. Lucky for her really that he had been in the way with impressively fast reflexes although he might possibly disagree. Now that his arms were around her and she was plastered against him so closely that it would have been an effort to fit a piece of paper in between them he looked almost ready to drop her. "I caught my foot!"

Without any noticeable effort the man she had flung herself bodily at straightened her up again and holding chivalrously onto her arm helped her step out of the canvas loop.

"Ain't no problem, miss."

He assured her, looking faintly nervous. "How's your ankle?"

Good God almighty that was the thickest southern drawl she had ever heard. Thick and slow as the drizzle of molasses and just as sweet to Ella's ears. She always had been soft on the idea of a southern gentleman although – now that she actually had the distance to look at him – maybe gentleman wasn't quite the word. About six foot tall and lithely muscular his dark hair was cut close to his scalp, equally dark stubble sprinkled his jaw and in the jeans and T-shirt he was wearing she could see the tattoos on both biceps. Less southern gentleman than country boy hellion then and she'd known enough of their inner city cousins for _that_ to hold no romance whatsoever. His thick eyebrows curled slightly.

"Miss? Your ankle?"

Oh God, the man must think she'd been knocked witless. Cute though: _Yo ankle_… she liked that.

"My ankle… oh! It's fine, truly."

They looked down at her feet, clad in the battered, aqua coloured Chuck Taylors and then glanced up again. For a wild child hellion he had the biggest eyes, she mused dreamily: hazel she guessed but hazel in a way a woodland pond was shades of dark and green as the sunlight slid through the tree branches above it. Lord was she _still_ staring at him? Looking away from sheer embarrassment she realised for the first time that he was not alone.

If you've ever wondered how the force of your personality can alter your looks you should stand beside the Briscoe brothers and realise that although they were virtually identical no one would _ever_ confuse Mark for his older brother. If she had fallen into the arms of Jay rather than Mark, Ella thought afterwards with a wry smile, he would have had no compunction whatsoever at dropping her flat. Or possibly dodging so that she never hit him in the first place. His blowtorch gaze burned.

"Think you can stand on your own now, _miss_?"

He asked; sarcasm thick enough to paint with. It was the first time she'd heard miss being said as an insult. She followed his gaze and realised that her hand was still wrapped lightly around his brother's forearm. She blushed so hard so felt like her head was about to explode.

"Sorry!"

She yelped. "I'm Isabella Beaudine… Ella. I'm with Dev… Devon and Trent…"

"Everyone is in the back."

The older and more socially challenged of the two replied. "Now 'scuse us."

My oh my, wasn't he the charmer? And talented too! How anything could make that sound so clearly like "_I do not give a rat's ass who you are with or why you're here_" she did not know. As he went past her, the sheer force of his personality prickled against her skin. Rather wide-eyed she looked back at the younger of the two. Her saviour flushed.

"'Scuse us, Miss Beaudine."

He said, infinitely more polite. Ella managed a crooked smile for him.

"Ella, please. Miss Beaudine is my m…."

She came to a screeching halt. While her dubious parentage was no big deal in the even more dubious part of Cincinnati she'd always called home it may not be something she wanted to throw out casually to this young man with his liquid gold and green eyes. "…Is what the principal called me."

She finished lamely. His lips curved upwards.

"Must have seen that man an awful lot if you can't stand to hear the name again."

Ella gave a startled gasp of laughter.

"More than you'd imagine: a sweet and innocent little girl like me."

Alright, she had to admit it: she was flirting with him. And his full, sensual lips parted to reveal… missing front teeth. Jesus; well that went some way to explain the thick slurring of his words anyway. And yet… front teeth or no front teeth, broken nose or not – hellfire, had someone used him as a damned punching bag? – He was attractive. She could imagine sliding her hands over that so short, glossy hair before kissing him until she passed out from lack of oxygen. And maybe the warmth she felt for him triggered a cloud of pheromones that began to drift his way or maybe he had already formed his own opinions about her level of attractiveness but his big eyes were everything admiring and warm, his big body shuffling just a little bit closer…

"Chicken!"

The barked explosion made them both jump and look wildly over at the ring where his older brother was now glowering at them. For a moment she thought he was actually taunting her for _not_ catching his baby brother in a full body lock and smooching him until steam came out of their ears but even knowing the man for five second that seemed… somewhat unlikely. Finally it dawned on her that Chicken seemed to be… his… _name_…?

_"Chicken?"_

Ella asked incredulously and her new number one sexual fantasy both grinned and blushed.

"Nickname. Mark. Mah name is Mark."

Spinning around to join his brother he grinned back over his shoulder. "And this here Prince charming is my big brother Jay."

It was not often that Ella met someone and immediately liked them enough to flash them the sort of smile that could melt ice-caps. Clearly some part of her was already fully convinced that this Mark deserved it.

"Then I guess I'll see you around, Mark. Jay."

She winced as the latter shot her a look so easily reading _over my dead body_ that she was actually a little surprised that he'd never opened his mouth. Geez, the man has issues. A pity really; he was kinda hot…

* * *

**Firstly, sorry for the brief interruption of Power Play. I know that I've chosen to drift off at the WORST possible time but there will be an update this weekend, promise! Secondly, and grovelling for your forgiveness over with, I really want to know what you guys think of this new fic. Usually I am quite happy that you'll either review or not as you feel like it but this is the first time I've ever even contemplated using the Briscoe Brothers in a fic and I'm morbidly curious about whether I'm the only person in the world who thinks they're insanely sexy lol Give me a shot if you'd like to read more, ok?**


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